Performing Women: Stand-ups, Strumpets and Itinerants

310 Pages·1999·28.643 MB·English

by  Alison Oddey (eds.)

Performing Women
Also by Alison Oddey
DEVISING lliEATRE
Performing Women
Stand-ups, Strumpets and Itinerants
Introduced, Interviewed and Edited by
Alison Oddey
Settlor L«tum In Drrmul tmd 'I'haltlr Studies
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© Alison Oddey 1999
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of
this publication may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or
transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with
the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988,
or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying
issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court
Road, London WIP OLP.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this
publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.
The author has asserted her right to be identified
as the author of this work in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 1999 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndrnills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS
and London
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 978-0-333-71394-5 ISBN 978-1-349-27720-9 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-27720-9
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and
made from fully managed and sustained forest sources.
Transferred to digital printing 2002
Published in the United States of America by
ST. MARriN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-22909-2
In loving memory of the actress Susan Leong (1955-1993),
and for my son, Oliver Williams, whom I learn from daily
and love very much.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank the University of Kent, School of Drama, Film and Visual Arts
Research Fund for a grant towards this book; Val Oswald and Sue Sherwood
for assistance in transcribing some of the interviews. Special thanks to Dr Nicola
Shaughnessy, Jill Davis, Jessica Naish, and my mother, Patricia Oddey, for
reading parts of the manuscript and for generously sharing their own thoughts,
insights and criticisms with me. I would also like to thank Professor Christopher
Baugh and my editor, Charmian Hearne, for their advice, support and constant
encouragement.
Thanks are also due to Ruth Young, Ali Day, Sue Hunter, Kathleen Earl,
Cathy Edis and Sylvia Morris (The Shakespeare Centre) for their reliability and
efficiency during the research process. I want to thank particular friends, Dr
Louise Naylor, Alison Kirkpatrick, Jos Kirkvliet, Phil and Claire Poole, Alison
Packer, Paula Hamilton, Doris Dodd and Alison McCloud, who have supported
and encouraged me in various ways. Finally, special thanks to Ben for all his
continued in-house support, love, patience and wisdom, and most of all, to
the 'performing women', who have shared something of themselves with me.
Every effort has been made to contact all of the copyright-holders of
illustrations included in this book but if any have been missed we would be
happy to make appropriate acknowledgement in future printings.
Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acronyms xi
1 PERFORMING WOMEN
s
2 HISTORICAL AND CULT IJRAL CONTEXTS
3 STAND-UPS, STRUMPETS AND ITINERANTS 13
jenny Eclair IS
Niamh Cusack 24
Imogen Stubbs 35
Josette Simon 45
ss
Meera Syal
jane Horrocks 66
Kathy Burke 76
Marianne Jean-Baptiste 89
Heather Ackroyd 98
jo Brand 106
Imelda Staunton 118
juliet Stevenson 130
Kathryn Hunter 143
Fiona Shaw 153
Dawn French 165
Miranda Richardson 176
Victoria Wood 185
Penelope Wilton 198
june Whitfield 208
Sheila Hancock 218
viii Performing Women
Brenda Blethyn 232
Alison Steadman 244
julie Walters 254
Bobby Baker 266
4 WHY PERFORM? Themes Arising from Interviews 279
Selected Bibliography 294
Index 295
List of Illustrations
Alison Oddey and Oliver Williams, September 1994 xii
jenny Eclair Photo: Chris Frazer-Smith 15
jenny Eclair, aged 7 18
Niamh Cusack Photo: Fatimah Namdar 24
Nlamh Cusack, 'I don't want to be on Aideen's pony!' 28
Imogen Stubbs Photo: Carole Latimer 35
Josette Simon Photo: Carole Latimer 45
Josette as a child 51
Meera Syal Photo: Geoff Shields 55
Meera pretending she could ride her uncle's motorbike
Home, Essington, 1972, aged 9 58
jane Horrocks Photo: Alan Strutt 66
Kathy Burke Photo: jackie di Stefano 76
Kathy Burke, London, january 1976, aged 11 81
Marianne Jean-Baptiste Photo: Lisa Linder 89
Heather Ackroyd in Desert Grass, joshua Tree National Park,
California, 1991 Photo: Heather Ackroyd & Dan Harvey 98
Heather Ackroyd, aged 10 101
jo Brand Photo: Trevor Leighton 106
jo Brand, aged 6 110
Imelda Staunton Photo: Brian Arts 118
Imelda Staunton 'when she was small', London 125
juliet Stevenson Photo: Brian Aris 130
juliet in Paderbom, Westphalia, 1958, aged 2 135
Kathryn Hunter as King Lear in Shakespeare's King Lear,
The Young Vic, 1997 Photo: Stephen Vaughan 143
Fiona Shaw Photo: Neil Llbbart 153
Fiona as a senior infant at the Mercy Convent, watching Mother
Patrick cutting a toffee with a blunt knife for those infants who
were 'good', aged 4 161
Dawn French Photo: Trevor Leighton 165
Miranda Richardson Photo: Brigitte Lacombe 176
Victoria Wood Photo: Brian Moody 185
Penelope Wilton Photo: Sasha Gusov 198
june Whitfield (Photographer unknown) 208
Sheila Hancock Photo: Amanda Searle 218
Sheila Hancock as a child 222
Brenda Blethyn Photo: Michael Mayhew 232
ix